The Blog

President of local oil, gas producer optimistic in price turnaround sooner than expected

A day after oil markets crashed with the need for production down, the economy at a standstill and companies with nowhere to store their unused oil, Eyewitness News spoke with the president of Bear Petroleum for further perspective on what the historic price drop means for Kansas.

Bear Petroleum President Dick Schremmer says no one could’ve predicted a drop in oil prices like what happened Monday. In Kansas, he says, you need to make $40 to $50 a barrel, just to break even. Now, he says, it’s not worth pumping the wells.

“The markets were just upheaved yesterday,” Schremmer says.

He says Russia and Saudi Arabia started dumping oil into the market, which does not help the U.S. and the economy we’re in. But Schremmer says he’s an optimist and thinks the prices will turn around sooner than people think.

“So, with all the futures, contracts and everything that’s kind of what came due in May, and people worried about storage, because now they own that oil on paper, no place to go with it. So I think that will shake out here in May, and at least you’ll see positive numbers in June, July,” he says.